2009年12月6日 星期日

台灣戴明圈100-109

Yes, I was the chairman of the Systems Group, and the Statistics Group.

It was our policy to let anyone interested join these groups: they didnot have to be experts in that special field - in fact usually were not.

This helped in our aim to make Deming's ideas understood by those whowere not experts. We could try out an explanation on the group, and seehow they reacted.

In theory, since I was Director of Research, I had responsibility forall the research groups, shared with Henry Neave, who held the title ofDirector of Education. Not that either of us had the power to directanybody, or anything.

Many of the groups had no one in them with very deep knowledge. But atthe end of each year we used to report what we had been doing to ameeting with Dr Deming himself. He often just listened, and said verylittle, but he liked to hear how we were getting on.

>By the way, please kindly ask Prof. to write a history of BDA if it is>possible. I can translate it into Chinese.>

I think it would be very difficult to write a history of the BDA whileso many former members are still alive. There were so many mistakes inorganisation and knowledge. But I suppose nobody knew what the problemswould be, until the mistakes had been made. Everyone meant well.

Anyway, I would be the wrong person to write it, as I was not involvedin the early years. Henry Neave would be the obvious person: theorganisation was his idea. But I think it would not really be a goodidea to write a history - or not a complete one.

One problem was that the organisation tried to be democratic: that meantthat decisions were based on numbers rather than knowledge. And ofcourse, in the early years we all thought we knew more than we did. Igot a real shock when I went over to the USA and started working withreal experts. I found that much of what I had learned in the BDA waswrong.

David

(107)

Suzuki Motor Corp. announced Wednesday it has agreed to a capital tie-up with German giant Volkswagen AG.

The move would create the world's largest automobile-producing alliance.

Under the agreement, Volkswagen will purchase 19.9 percent of Suzuki's issued shares while Suzuki will purchase a stake in Volkswagen with a maximum of 50 percent of the sum paid by the German carmaker, Suzuki officials said.

Volkswagen has shown a keen interest in tying up with Suzuki, which has a strong foothold in the Asian market, particularly India, according to industry watchers. For its part, Suzuki is hoping to take advantage of Volkswagen's edge in environmental technology, they said.

(106)Dear David,

I read 1995 BDA Research Annual Report, please advise the content of Systems Group was written by you.By the way, please kindly ask Prof. to write a history of BDA if it is possible. I can translate it into Chinese.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY"If you’re an engineer, you don’t want to outlaw the great technology you’ve been working on. If you’re a marketing person, you don’t want to outlaw the thing you’ve been trying to sell. If you’re a C.E.O., you don’t want to outlaw the thing that’s been making a lot of money."BOB LUCKY, an executive director at Bell Labs from 1982-92, on why potential dangers of using cellphones while driving were not addressed early on.(102)